


Look, But Don't Touch

by deathrae



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: I have no fucking idea what to tag this I'm sorry, Multi, and exploit this fact disastrously, but like, in a loving way, is probably not a tag I'll only use this once let's be real, keyblades are part of your soul, keyblades are tied to your body and touching them has a matching effect, lookit this buncha virgins, teenagers trying to be good at sex, wayfinders find out that keyblades are giant extra erogenous zones, y'know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-02-23
Packaged: 2018-05-22 18:55:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6090778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathrae/pseuds/deathrae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Keyblade is an extension of your soul, they were taught. It's a part of you. A deep, intrinsic fragment of your self made manifest.</p><p>Do not touch another warrior's keyblade, they were taught.</p><p>But Eraqus never told them <em>why.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Look, But Don't Touch

_Do not touch another warrior's keyblade save with armored glove._

It was one of the first lessons they had ever been taught, after _Guard yourself against the darkness_ and _Give the darkness no quarter in your heart or on the battlefield._

Terra remembered the lesson with a certain, not insignificant amount of shame; Aqua, with solemn reverence. He remembered that day well, so long ago and when he was so very small... He remembered holding out his hand expectantly with his eyes squeezed tight to focus, starting to feel just a little silly, when suddenly there was weight in his hand of metal and leather and his fingers curled instinctively around the grip. The sudden weight felt so _right_ in his hand, and there was a hum of power in his hand and a song in his mind that the keyblade—no, _his_ keyblade—sang triumphantly in his mind. It was the first time he'd ever reached for that rumble in his heart and felt it answer, felt it surge toward his outstretched hand and materialize as a real, heavy object.

Aqua's face when she summoned her own was burned into his memory, the light in her eyes of surprise, then joy, then excitement as she realized what had happened. He could only assume his face had looked the same.

His delight at their mutual success filled him up, made his heart jump like it would burst, and he reached out to touch hers, wondering if it would feel the same, if the delicate central bar like wrought iron would be different from the heavy coppery beam in the center of his own.

But Master Eraqus' voice snapped out like a whip just before his fingers touched her blade.

“ _No!_ ” he had snapped, and Terra had jerked his hand back instinctively, as if the word had burned him, and he looked up at the Master with a gasp falling from his mouth.

Master Eraqus' hand had followed, taking Terra's wrist and pulling him back an extra pace, as if Terra might have been tempted to try again.

“Terra,” he said, his voice gentling slightly, though his grip was like steel. It hurt. “Aqua,” he added, glancing to the girl, who was looking up at him in utter confusion, almost afraid, but listening raptly to him. “You must never touch another keyblade than your own.”

“I-I'm sorry,” Terra babbled, the words choking in his throat. _Why is the Master still holding my arm? This isn't fair!_ “I didn't know—”

“Ah—” Master Eraqus suddenly released him, as if he had only just realized he had gripped so tight as to leave a slight red mark on Terra's skin. "Yes. I apologize. I should have told you before.” He stiffened, standing a little straighter. “Now. Dismissing your blade.”

The lesson continued without further discussion of what had happened, but Terra could feel Aqua's gaze on him now and then, and he knew, just _knew_ , that she had seen the burn of shame on his face from the sudden scolding.

He knew she must've been bursting with opinions, or theories, or questions perhaps, but she didn’t bring it up that night, and for a long time he let the issue slide out of his mind. But every now and then, throughout the years that followed, he would lie in bed after lights-out and call his blade to hand. He'd run his fingers along the metal, wondering _why_ , why had the Master acted so strangely, wondering what it would feel like to have someone else touch the smooth lines and jagged edges. Nothing strange happened when _he_ touched it, other than the low hum of energy and excitement he could feel from the blade, a crackle of shared emotion that connected it to him, that kept it rooted in his hand, a thrum of power that echoed from the blade to a place deep in his chest.

Still, the years passed, and eventually two became three...and little by little Aqua and Terra coaxed the light of life and happiness back to Ventus' eyes. And one day, on a lazy afternoon in the library while they were studying magic, Aqua finally mentioned the incident with the Master.

Ven, Ven with his head of fluffy blonde hair and his sad, vacant eyes, was sitting in a window seat, one foot resting against a pillow while the other dangled off to the side.

Terra, bored to tears of reading about the various nuances of a properly applied _esuna_ spell, was chewing on the inside of his cheek and carefully poking Ven’s toes with a pen, seeing if he could make the boy respond in any way. Now and then a carefully aimed poke earned a little kick and twitch, and it took all he had not to laugh.

Aqua’s voice broke the silence, though—to his great surprise—not to tell him to stop.

“Terra,” she started, and he snapped his head up, about to apologize. “I just read something interesting.”

“Huh?” he asked, looking over at her. She was nose-deep in a book, her hair forming a pale blue curtain around her face.

“This says that letting someone handle your keyblade is a gesture of trust and deep, unassailable friendship.” She tilted her head up to look at him, so that her mouth was barely an inch from the pages.

He didn’t want to admit he had no idea what “unassailable” meant, and instead just chuckled uncomfortably. “What are you even reading? I mean, don’t you remember? The Master said you’re never supposed to touch someone else’s.”

She nodded, thoughtful, then looked down at the page again. “Yeah...I guess so.”

She dropped it, and for a long time, so did he.

 

“Hey, Ven,” Terra asked once, lying on a bench and fighting to catch his breath, his knuckles brushing the dirt. Aqua sat nearby with her knees together, looking rather less winded than the boys.

Ven was lying on the ground, his feet propped up on top of Terra’s legs on the bench. “Yeah?” he said, tilting his head over to see Terra. He let his arms flop out on the ground, his wooden blade leaving a little divot in the earth by his hip.

“How come you hold it backhand like that?”

Ven looked over at his sword, as if he were only just now noticing it, then shrugged, stirring up dirt around his shoulders.

“I dunno,” he said, looking over at Terra with a grin. “It just...feels right, you know?”

“Huh,” Terra said, glancing over to him. “You go by feel?”

Aqua chuckled. “Oh don’t sound so surprised,” she said. “So do you! You just don’t notice you’re doing it.”

He wrinkled his nose. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means,” she said, reaching up to poke the tip of his nose, “You mostly go off the forms the Master teaches us, but you change them now and then when you feel like it should be different. And you always say the same thing—”

“I don’t see—”

“You ‘just know’ it should be this other way.”

“That’s _different_ , Aqua!” he protested, and Ven, lively, bright-eyed Ven who was so very unlike the empty husk he had once been, laughed and laughed, light and airy and sweet.

 

For a time the Master taught the group of them together, but as they got a little older, it became more and more common for the Master to leave them to their own devices, allowing Aqua and Terra to oversee the training and the sparring. He trusted them to keep injuries to a minimum—and to mend the few that slipped through—and to keep the group as a whole focused on their work. Aqua was a diligent but compassionate taskmaster, and Terra found that he liked teaching an awful lot, especially once Ven had come so much more to himself, and even started asking questions, forcing them to stay on their toes and actually think about what they said and did.

It was on one such day, however, when the Master was elsewhere to resolve some decisively ordinary errand, that Terra learned the answer to his longtime, near-forgotten _why_.

Because Ventus had come to them as an apprentice in his own right, with—they assumed, as he'd never yet called it where they could see—a keyblade of his own, it had never occurred to Terra to question if Ven had been taught the basic precepts like they had.

_Guard your heart against the darkness._

_Give the darkness no quarter in your heart or on the battlefield._

_Do not touch another warrior's keyblade._

Later he would wonder how it had never come up before.

He was sparring with Ven while Aqua watched studiously from the sidelines, observing stance and form and weakness. She was standing nearby, a hand cupping her chin as she watched them move. Terra swung over and over, his blade always skimming just shy of Ventus' shoulders or head or chest as the boy dodged and rolled and swept around him in circles, using little bursts of air not to attack, but to push himself just out of reach. In turn, each of Ven's returns met Terra's heavy parry, the sturdy wood of Ven's practice sword pulling solid _thwacks_ from Terra's keyblade as it struck over and over, never quite making it all the way through to hit Terra himself.

Terra pushed Ven back, making the younger boy skid on the dirt and laugh, spinning his blade in his hand.

“Aw come on, Terra, you've gotta get tired _some_ time, right?” he called out.

Terra laughed in response, backing up a step as he watched Ven, his chest heaving for air. He dragged his hand across his forehead before sweat could drip in his eyes, and briefly noted Ven mirroring the gesture. He could smell the raw earth and a touch of saltwater on the breeze, could hear Aqua's soft laugh and Ven's heavy breaths. Just for a moment, he let himself _feel_ , and a familiar sensation of joy curled in his heart, so pleased to be sharing the warm afternoon with his two friends.

“I could say the same to you!” Terra called back, settling back into a guard position as Ven ran forward, spinning his blade again.

He knew this move. It was one of Ven's favorite feints, to keep his blade spinning and moving so you were never quite sure where it was going to be. He watched Ven's hands, instead, looking for the telltale flick...

Light reflected off something off to the side. Aqua's boots? A bit of marble? Ven's necklace? He wasn't sure. But for just a second, he blinked, and Ven's blade caught on his own, twisting to finish a spin, and Terra's blade ripped free from his hand and bounced across the earth.

“Ha!” Ven crowed, leaping into the air in triumph. “Yes! You blinked!”

Terra laughed and stepped back, wiping his face with one hand. “You watched me _blink_?”

“That was really impressive, Ven!” Aqua said from the sidelines, grinning.

“Thanks!” he said, jogging over to where Terra's keyblade was lying on the ground, to retrieve it. “You were blocking it all day, but I was pretty sure...”

For a moment, time seemed to slow. Ven reached down, fingers stretching to scoop up Terra's keyblade, and in the space of half a breath, he realized what was about to happen. Terra stepped forward, raising a hand to stop him, and Aqua matched him, the words “Wait, Ven—!” falling from her lips just as Ven's fingers closed around the metal.

Ven turned and stood, confused, Earthshaker snugly in his hand. “What? Why?”

An impossible sensation flooded through Terra's body, starting deep in his chest where the keyblade's power lived, and radiating outward like fire. He was dimly aware that he had collapsed to his knees, that Aqua was holding his shoulders to keep him upright. There was noise. Maybe she was asking him questions? He could barely hear her over a ragged, repetitive sound that he belatedly realized was his own breath echoing in his ears, hoarse and deafening.

Ven ran forward, gripping Earthshaker even tighter—probably to keep from dropping it—and Terra could _feel_ it as a pulse through his whole body.

With a horrible flush all the way up to his face, and with choking shame in his throat, Terra realized he knew _exactly_ what this sensation was, recognized it from the times when his body was full of warmth and energy, when everyone else was asleep and he let his hands wander under his blankets. He knew all too well this raging heat running through his whole body, setting his skin to an electric crackle and pooling low in his hips.

A low whimpering sort of noise escaped his lips before he clapped a hand over his mouth in horror.

“Terra?” Aqua said again, leaning over to look him in the eye, the back of her hand pressed to his cheek. “He's really warm,” she said, half to Ven and half to herself. “Terra?”

“Y-yeah,” he managed, forcing himself to make eye contact. “Sorry...”

“Terra, are you okay?” Ven asked, crouching slightly to be on the same eyeline.

“Um.” He slid back to sit on the ground, tangling his hands together in his lap to try to hide his... _problem_. She moved to follow him, her fingers combing through his hair, pushing it back to better see his face. “Y-yeah, I'm fine,” he mumbled.

“Are you sure?” Ven asked, leaning even closer to peer at him. “You don't really...I mean you don't look like it...” Ven hugged Earthshaker to his chest, worry all over his face. Terra badly wanted to reassure him, tell him it was fine, but at Ven's embrace that strange, alien heat turned into a warm pressure all over, and he bit down on his lip to stifle a raw whine.

Aqua glanced at Ven, then at Terra, then the keyblade clutched to Ven's chest. “Uh, Ven, maybe I should...take that, for now.”

“What? Oh, um, sure.” Terra opened his mouth to try to tell her not to, but Ven carefully passed the blade to her while he was trying to form a full thought.

Aqua's fingers were gentler, her hold on the weapon less like Ven's sturdy grip and more...soft, as she cradled the metal delicately across her hands. But in its own way, that was _worse_. He could _feel_ her thin fingers running all over him, touching his body but at the same time not, instead touching something so much deeper than just his skin...

“ _Aqua_...”

It wasn't supposed to be _weird_. He only meant to say it to stop her, to warn her, the start of a much longer thought, but her fingers touching his keyblade turned her name into a long, hollow moan from deep in his chest. She froze, and even Ven suddenly went very, very still.

Terra felt his face turn red, heat radiating from his skin, and he forced himself to look away from them, ashamed. How could he even begin to explain? How could he hope to convey to them how it felt to have their hands on something so personal to him, so much a part of him that it was really just as if they were touching him directly?

But then...it wasn't that he didn't want them to.

In fact, there was something so very _right_ about their hands on him—no, his _keyblade_ —that was difficult to put into words.

If he were very honest with himself...he didn’t actually want her to stop.

“Terra, I'm...going to put it down, okay?” Aqua said, her voice much smaller than usual.

“W-well,” he mumbled. “Y-you don’t…I mean…” He trailed off stupidly, and Ven touched his shoulder. His face went, if possible, a little darker, and he looked toward the ground, so he could only really see their shoes. “You don’t... _have_ to...”

It was a miracle he could hear anything over the pounding of his own heart, but he thought she gasped, thought maybe Ven inhaled nervously.

“It doesn’t hurt?” Ven asked, and Terra jerked his head up to look at him.

“Wh–? No,” he said, too quickly maybe. “It doesn’t...hurt, no,” he added, offering it as clarification even as he looked down again.

Aqua looked at his face, then the blade in her hands. “I’m not sure we should...”

_Ever the voice of reason._

He flinched at Aqua’s words. She was right, of course. He wasn’t thinking clearly, and they were out in the training yard, and he was sitting in the dirt like a fool…not to mention a thousand other reasons.

“Right,” he said suddenly, scrambling to his feet and dusting himself off with his back to them. “No, you’re right, I– I’m sorry, I should…” He chewed on his lip, trying to put thoughts together. “I’ll go wash up, I’ll be down later,” he said, walking away from them, and without looking behind him he knew they were exchanging a _look_ , worried about him, maybe noticing the weird stiffness to his voice or the set of his shoulders.

It wasn’t until he was back inside the castle that he realized he’d left Earthshaker resting in Aqua’s hands.

... _dammit_.

 

“Um…” Ven looked up at Aqua, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. “Should we take it back to him?”

Aqua frowned at the blade in her hand, hesitant to even twitch, in case it affected Terra. “I’m...not sure,” she said, looking up at the castle where Terra had disappeared. “Maybe he’ll recall it on his own...”

They stood there for several minutes, but the keyblade didn’t budge, didn’t even so much as spark. Though once, she thought maybe she saw a sheen trail down the edge.

Ven stood beside her in studious silence, oddly quiet.

“I think he liked it,” he said finally, his voice very soft and small.

She looked away, feeling her cheeks go warm. “I think that’s true,” she allowed, cautious.

“And he said it didn’t hurt.”

“He did…”

He lifted a hand, careful and slow. She watched his fingers, opening her mouth to protest, to stop him, to do _something_.

“I wonder,” he murmured, his fingers shying away just before they could touch the metal, before stretching out again, more sure. “What it feels like,” he explained, very gently running a finger down the flat side of Earthshaker. “Don’t you?”

 _Desperately_ , she thought, her mouth shutting with a quiet _click_ of her teeth, but she didn’t dare admit it aloud.

Despite her efforts, he took her silence to be full of the meaning she didn’t dare say, and he looked up at her, eyes bright with an equal mix of mischief and adoration.

“We...should return it to him,” he said, and she would swear he sounded downright _impish_.

She looked down at the blade, then at him, and she couldn’t muster a good argument as to why they shouldn’t. The Master wouldn’t approve, he said we weren’t supposed to, Terra looked like he wanted to be _alone_ -alone...all of them felt hollow and forced, somehow.

“All right,” she said, and if her voice sounded a little strange when it stuck in her throat, Ven had the good grace not to say so.

 

It would be safe to say that the last thing Terra expected, as he sat on the end of his bed with his belt open and his pants low off his hips, was a knock on the door. He flinched, breath choking off in his throat, and stared at the door in horror.

“U-uh– just a second!” he called out.

“Terra?” Aqua said, her voice low but pitched through the door, as if she were leaning against the wood. His heartbeat ratcheted up even higher. Almost without thinking he yanked his hand free and stood up, fumbling at the ties of his belt.

Something, he couldn’t guess what, ran down the edge of his keyblade, a spark of heat running down his spine and making his knees go to jelly. He hit the floor before he could so much as form a response. Something rubbed over the ridges and notches and he fought down a shudder, curling over until his forehead touched the floor, the wood cool on his heated skin. His body felt like it was on fire, but in the best possible way.

“Terra?”

The door creaked open and he groaned, pressing his face to the floor, his vision entirely dark. He heard Aqua’s footsteps, but every time he tried to feel ashamed, the fingers shifted on his keyblade and heat chased away embarrassment.

Ven followed her and carefully slid the door shut with his foot, holding Earthshaker by the grip, his other hand lightly running over the flat side of the blade.

Aqua crouched down beside him, and he turned his head slightly to look up at her, chancing a small smile. She smiled back and hugged her knees to her chest.

“Hey,” she murmured, reaching forward to run her fingers through his hair, but this time he would've sworn it was less maternal, more…intimate. “We wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“And…see if you wanted help,” Ven offered brightly, making Aqua’s face turn pink.

“A-and maybe that, too,” she added.

Terra looked up at her more directly, turning his head to look up at her, then Ven.

“Help?” he echoed, rewarded with his answer when they both flushed slightly and found other things in the room to look at. “...oh.”

He thought about that for a moment. Aqua’s fingers were still in his hair, her thumb resting against his temple. Ven very, very gently set Earthshaker on Terra’s bed.

“ _Oh_.”

That strange sensation of _right_ ness filled his chest again, and he grinned, sitting up slowly to rest on his heels, looking at each of them in turn. Aqua finally pulled her hand back, looking as though she wasn’t sure where to put it next.

Terra cleared his throat. “Can I, um…”

Aqua’s face flushed even darker, but she raised her hand, inhaling as she called Rainfell to hand. He let his eyes roam the delicate iron bars, his curiosity from years prior surging to the forefront of his mind again. It looked so fragile. _She_ looked so fragile. Breath short, her teeth digging into her lip, she held it out to Terra.

He raised his hand, reaching out to curl his fingers around the grip over hers, but he watched her face. Her eyes darted aside once, then twice, but always came back to his, and he felt himself smile without meaning to, an idea hitting him like a splash of water.

 _It was just like she’d said, back then._ _She_ ** _trusts_** _me_.

Ven sat down on the floor just a little ways away, watching raptly as Terra reminded himself to breathe and very carefully closed his hand around hers, his fingers tangling around the leather binding on Rainfell’s grip.

Terra only realized he had an advantage— _he_ knew what to expect—when she inhaled sharply, breath stuttering, and a shiver went up her arm that he felt through his grip on the blade. For a long moment she sat there, deathly still, with her hand enveloped in his.

“Breathe,” he murmured, and she released the breath she’d been holding as if she had actually forgotten how.

“O-oh,” she whispered, and he couldn’t help a sneaky little grin.

“Yeah,” he agreed, glancing to Ven with a sly sort of wink, before looking her way again. “May I...?” he breathed, carefully prying Rainfell up out of her hand. She released it to him, unconsciously tilting her head back with a shaky sigh.

He gestured briefly to Ven, pleased when the boy listened and crawled over to sit behind her, giving her something to lean back against. Which she did, to Terra’s delight, when he ran his fingers along the full length of the central bar.

Her keyblade felt so different from his. It was everything it looked like: delicate, fragile, a heavy outer coating around a core of beautiful light and vulnerability. But, he realized as he held it, it had a healthy heft to it, and it was so much stronger than it looked.

It mirrored her _perfectly_.

He gently brushed his fingers over the engravings in the guard, then ran his thumb all the way to the head of the key, watching her shudder and squirm against Ven. When he let just the very tips of his fingers trail along the interlocking spikes, her breathless whimpers turned into audible, faltering moans.

A small smile curled across his mouth as he looked at her. With her head tilted back, her eyes slipping shut, and her hair fanning out over Ven’s shoulder...she looked more beautiful than ever before.

Ven held her gently against his chest, then bit his lip, looking up at her face where she was leaning on him. His voice cracked, painfully soft. "Aqua...” Terra let up for a moment, allowing her to take a deep breath and giving Ven room to act. He smiled when Ven reached up with one hand, carefully pushing her hair away from her face, his thumb brushing her cheek. “Aqua?” he tried again.

She inhaled again, sharper, distractedly opening her eyes to look at him. “W-what is it, Ven?” she asked, her voice softer now, thicker with an emotion Terra didn’t want to try to guess the name of.

“Can I...” Ven trailed off uncertainly, and when she only smiled in response, lifting a hand to touch his face, he leaned in a little closer, shyly kissing her cheek.

She smiled, her face turning pink, and turned toward him, cupping the back of his head with her hand and drawing him a little closer, tilting her head up to kiss him in return.

And a wicked, _wicked_ thought crossed Terra’s mind.

Just before her lips touched Ven’s, he trailed a fingernail _hard_ over the interlocking bars of the head of her keyblade. She gasped and stiffened, her back arching, and instead of gently meeting in the middle as they’d intended, Ven’s mouth collided with hers, clumsily pressing to her open lips.

She yelled something indistinct, muffled by Ven, and waved a hand in Terra’s direction as if she were trying very hard to hit him. He laughed, leaning just out of range, and ran his fingers down Rainfell’s central bar. She shuddered, moaning softly against Ven’s mouth...only encouraging the younger boy all the more.

Ven cupped her face with both of his hands, tilting his head to kiss her better, and all the fight and ire left her in a rush. She reached up, hesitantly laying her hands over Ven’s, as if she expected him to turn to smoke under her touch. And just as quickly as it had started, she settled, her fingers curling around his to keep his hands on her face.

Terra watched, deliberately keeping his hands still, thinking. Where he would have expected to find jealousy, he instead found warmth. He enjoyed the sight of them together, just an arm's length away, doing all this _with_ him.

Ven kissed haphazardly, brow furrowed with concentration, like he was afraid someone would chastise him for doing it wrong. Then again, Aqua—though she was rather more relaxed because of Terra's... _help_ —wasn't much better off. As with so many of her undertakings, though she’d never willingly admit it, this first attempt was a bit...uncoordinated.

It just made him love her all the more, he realized suddenly, smiling to himself. Both of them, really.

Even just that thought made him feel warm inside, his chest aching with it. He got up on his knees, shuffling over and gently setting Rainfell on his bed beside Earthshaker, then sat down behind Aqua. He moved carefully, trying not to distract them until he leaned in, lightly kissing Aqua’s shoulder. She jolted and broke away from Ven, blearily turning her head to see him where he was just behind her, his lips still hovering over her skin, but curling into a smile.

“Just me,” he murmured, cautiously setting one hand on her waist as his other slid over to rest on Ven’s knee, squeezing lightly and earning a pleased little sound from the other boy.

“Mm,” she agreed, just as cautious as she reached back to tangle her fingers into Terra’s hair, her other hand still holding Ven’s.

“You distracted her,” Ven added, not angry enough to truly be chastising, and when Terra looked at him, Ven’s overdramatic pout turned into a big grin.

“ _Well_ ,” Terra said with a soft laugh, resting his chin on Aqua’s shoulder as she scritched her fingers through his hair and listened to them argue. “How could I ever ask for your forgiveness after that.”

“I could think of a couple ways,” Ven said, a suggestive lilt to his voice that made Terra laugh all the more, if only to cover his surprise.

“Do tell.”

Ven apparently still had the sense of self to blush, but he raised a hand out to his side, away from the little knot of their bodies they’d formed on the bedroom floor. Aqua’s eyebrows jumped up just as Terra’s drew down into an almost devious little smile.

“ _Oho_ ,” he purred, and Ven’s face went flame red.

Aqua chuckled softly and leaned toward him, whispering something in Ven’s ear that Terra couldn’t quite hear. Whatever it was, it made Ven inhale shakily and close his eyes to focus, whimpering faintly when Aqua’s lips brushed under his ear.

“Go ahead,” Terra said on a sharp breath out, pitching his voice lower than usual, on purpose, to give it a dark, almost hungry edge. “Summon it.” His efforts were rewarded when Ven actually _shuddered_ , any hesitation vanishing as Wayward Wind jumped to his hand so fast his arm jerked.

It was a beautiful, sturdy little thing, Ven's keyblade, exactly what Terra expected and yet nothing like what he'd imagined, all at once. It was compact, but thick and solid, and looked more than capable of good, heavy hits despite its size.

 _Just like Ven_.

“H-here,” Ven mumbled, biting his lip when Aqua kissed his cheek, and Terra just _grinned_ , moving to the side and reaching out to let Ven lay it across his hands.

“Ready?” he asked, and laughed softly when Ven whimpered and shook his head. “No?” Terra asked, grinning as he sat back away from them again, just within arm’s reach.

“You're right, you aren’t,” Aqua agreed, and when Ven shivered and pouted at her, actually looking _nervous_ , she just smiled and rested her head on Ven’s shoulder, looking up at his face with an expression that was sweet. Almost wistful.

Terra’s chest ached again. “Aqua...Ven,” he said, and his voice sounded hoarse and strained even to his own ears.

They looked up at him, Aqua’s forehead against the side of Ven’s neck, Ven’s arm curled loosely around Aqua’s shoulders.

 _Bah_ , he thought, smiling clumsily at them and shaking his head. _They know._

“Nothing,” he said instead, lightly running his fingers over the inner curves of Wayward Wind’s spines, the warmth in his chest doubling on itself when Ven _whined_ , his whole body going tense and his back arching up against Aqua’s chest like a strung bow at the sensation.

Aqua hummed in agreement, then looked at Terra. “Hold on a second,” she said, and without really thinking about it, he paused, obeying, watching her curiously. She moved a little, moving her hands from Ven’s to his waist, settling with her back against Terra’s bed. Terra smiled as she pulled Ven—still shaking like a leaf in the wind—into her arms, cradling him against her front like he were merely a child, settling him against her body with one leg bent under him to keep him close.

“There we are,” she murmured, stroking her fingers through Ven’s hair, kissing his cheek and nodding at Terra with a little smile to give him permission to continue.

When he did, his fingers trailing along grooves and edges, Ven whispered something that came out choked and soft and made Terra hesitate.

“Hm?” Aqua asked, kissing his temple.

“I-it’s good,” he mumbled, a little louder. “No wonder you guys made those goofy faces…”

Aqua laughed softly and Terra huffed, feigning offense. “ _Goofy_?” he echoed, rubbing his fingers harder against the gold engravings in payback, grinning when Ven twisted and gasped, writhing as Terra kept rubbing. He didn't let up, not until Ven arched his hips up needily, bucking up into the air, his face furiously red.

“Still think it was goofy?” Terra murmured, and Ven wasted no time in shaking his head, incapable of anything more articulate.

"Don't be mean, Terra," Aqua murmured, her lips against Ven's hair, and Ven nodded, echoing her remark with a soft whimper.

"Aw I don't think I'm being _that_ mean, am I?" Terra asked, chuckling and rubbing his thumb over the ridged texture of the grip. Ven's fingers found Aqua's sleeves and tangled in the fabric. "See? Looks like he's enjoying himself."

"You're such a jerk," Ven whined, rolling his hips up. Aqua's hand traveled lower, down to the waistband of his pants and then lower still, and Ven made a strangled, indecipherable sound.

Terra grinned at the noise, leaning closer to set a finger under Ven’s chin. He got a bleary, blue-eyed glance in return, and Ven made a soft little noise that wasn’t quite a question, but not for lack of trying.

“Hey,” Terra murmured, and leaned in just a little more to brush his mouth against Ven’s. The boy’s fingers tangled into his hair, pulling him closer on instinct, and Terra tried not to laugh against his lips, letting Ven pepper his own with little kisses and tiny, cautious little nips of his teeth that made Terra hum and groan without quite meaning to.

"As I recall," Aqua teased, her fingers rubbing little circles over the zipper of his pants, pressing down on him through the fabric. Ven jerked away from Terra, the back of his head colliding with Aqua’s shoulder. "This was _your_ idea."

"Was it now," Terra said, biting down a laugh, still wandering his hand along the head of Wayward Wind. "Figures, Aqua never would've done this on her own."

She gasped, offended. "You don't know that! I– I might've!"

He laughed, waiting until Ven distracted her by pressing his head against her chest. Terra leaned in, lightly pressing his mouth to hers, putting a rather sudden stop in her protests when she gave up talking for blinking at him, her eyes wide and her face getting warm.

"I'm glad he convinced you," he murmured in the ensuing pause, and she ducked her head, looking away. Sometimes it was easy to forget Aqua was a girl, at least until she got like this.

"Me too," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Can...I do that again?" he asked, his breath catching on the words. She looked up at him, nodding just a little, and he leaned back in, one hand holding Ven’s keyblade safely in his lap as the other moved to cup her jaw, keeping her steady and close (since Ven’s squirming and tiny, frustrated noises were a bit...distracting).

Ven leaned up and kissed the side of Terra’s neck while he was focused elsewhere, earning a shiver and a low, pleased hum that was partially muffled by Aqua’s mouth. Terra let Ven take his keyblade and put it on the bed with the others, then shifted just a little closer. He rather liked the idea of leaving the keyblades behind and focusing instead on how they felt together, sharing space and breathing each other in.

It was an odd thought, and he wasn’t strictly sure where it had come from, but there it was regardless.

And it was only a moment later, as he let his fingers tangle into Ven’s and let his mouth press a little more against Aqua’s, that the bell began to chime.

He genuinely wasn’t sure who spoke first.

“Oh... _shit_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Years and years and years ago I read a Bleach fic that involved the idea that touching another warrior's zanpakuto was taboo because it was equivalent to touching the person intimately, making it a gesture of trust and something you didn't just do to whoever you pleased. And...then I wanted to play with the idea with keyblades. OOPS?
> 
> In THEORY there could be more to this but I suspect I'll never get back to it, so I'm marking it done. Sorry about the ending, I think 8D;;;;


End file.
